fallenchicken
Well-Known Member
I stand by the robbing comment. Paying 10% of your income or going to Hell is the equivalent of a highway robber.
How the Mormons Make Money
- Thread starter Archie Moses
- Start date
CONAN
Well-Known Member
Definitely a big pill to swallow. :softball:
How about 10% to Gordon?
I'm going to go the other way, not paying tithing is robbing.
It's a commandment with a promise attached. What some of the other people have said about not knowing how, but things just working out when they paid their tithing willingly is true. The math does not make sense, but I have always had what I needed, when I needed it... not necessarily what I wanted. The Lord is asking us to prove this law out by paying tithing, and watching to see how he blesses you. I can vouch for the windows of heaven being poured out. It is not a pot of gold poured out, but it is help in many different ways and aspects of life.
C'mon, you can't say nobody saw this coming in regards to the robbed comment... and I'm surprised I didn't see something similar sooner.
This disagreement about tithing has more to do with God, the Nature of God, and belief in scripture than it does about tithing specifically.
fallenchicken
Well-Known Member
If America was trying to build malls and create a dependency on its secretive government filled with old white men behind closed doors (and it might be), asking for 10% of the wealth that I will accrue over my life while in return offering a place in Heaven and for blessings that may or may not be real--but we certainly have no way of telling (what a racket, that is), and Heaven which paradoxically is a place you can only get to after you die (and for some reason no one wants to do that, for some reason) and the money is then useless, anyway, but God lives in Heaven and one has to wonder what he is using the money for, but to build malls that sell stuff that would be useless when we get in to heaven--and we do want to get in--all the things the church invests in seems sort of trivial, unless their goal was just to be a tax exempt business, unless it's like a Fast Food Heaven or something, like if that's our idea of Heaven, like if Heaven is just America the nice neighborhood while Hell is the bad neighborhood, but just for eternity, and maybe Heaven has a currency and the 10% tithing the church asks for is actually just an investment, or like you're putting that money in an trust fund and the more you pay/less porn you watch the bigger the house you get in Heaven, but, anyways.
I guess I get your point. You're saying that the government can tax and that's the same as the Mormon church asking for a tax. That they're the same thing: taxes I pay to the government and taxes I pay to Prophet Monson. But, Ideally (and I don't want to get into politics) the government represents its people, and does societies work. Ideally. The government at this point in time though, is not offering me salvation or threatening damnation. And I can see a stop sign. When we pay for stop signs we can see them.
I don't see any blessings. Well, I guess I see shopping malls.
Tithing payers should consider themselves partners in the building of the Mall and demand a cut. And not feel bad about needing help to keep their lights on.
If I give my 10% to the Mormon Mall Fund (MMF, please send the donations you can, because every state should have a mall and a temple), and can't pay my electric bill, but I go to the church and they agree to help me pay my light bill, while also making sure I know that they're helping me out and I agree that they are helping me out, and probably making me feel bad about it...
That's called a dependency.
This post kind of got away from me but I had fun writing it.
fallenchicken
Well-Known Member
This is not me sacrificing so the less can have more, though. This would be me sacrificing so the more could have more.
I agree the jist of what you're saying though, very wise. Though, building a mall seems counter-intuitive to that message.
fallenchicken
Well-Known Member
Interesting. I've never read the bible and really should (or any holy books for that matter, aside from the odd parts I remember from Sunday school). The only thing I would argue here is how do we know your money is going to God? It's a little dubious. You're not paying him directly. You're putting it in a brown envelope and giving it to men who use the money to build malls and protest gay marriage. Would God not prefer me give the money to a reputable charity that feeds kids, or something? Is that not the same as paying tithing but better? I guess we've got to ask ourselves what this God guy wants--as they're are a lot of people claiming he wants us to give our money to them and not to that other church down the street...
And I understand the Mormon church does a lot of good work. But how much of the 10% goes to these programs?
CONAN
Well-Known Member
No you kinda went nuts.
I mean that government taxes are complicated (kinds of taxes and brackets and blah). What about just a flat 10% tax (I guess it could go up or down but a flat tax for everyone)? Whether you make $1,000,000 or $1,000 you still pay 10%. That's was my point.
CONAN
Well-Known Member
I know there's a breakdown out there. I don't think it matters. Don't get me wrong, if something came out with the Church misusing funds on a massive scale it would definitely be an issue for me. I just think the idea of tithing is more about obedience versus what happens to the money. Having said that I think the Church should be accountable. I think they are audited every six months or something by an independent agency.
So you say obedience and I say faith .. but I've realized we're saying the same thing (with mine simply sounding better).
It's not as much about every dime going to something a secular thinker would deem best used .. it's about having faith that God, in all circumstances, will bless me, an dthe tithe, for my faith (or obedience) in Him. Let God sort out the rest.